One of the earliest mysteries of the Marvel/ Netflix MCU has been the character of Karen Page, and what exactly her backstory is. She has hinted at a dark past, that tragic things have happened to her, things that have allowed her to empathize with the vigilantes around her and understand some of the violent means they use to take down crime. Now it seems we may finally get some answers about Karen in ‘Daredevil’ Season 3.
While speaking to Screen Rant at a roundtable recently, actress Deborah Ann Woll spoke on Karen’s story in Season 3, saying:
“What people will remember from watching Defenders is that as far as Foggy and I are concerned, Matt’s dead. So that’s kind of the first half of the season is dealing with the grief of that or do you believe it or not – the denial of it. And then do you keep fighting? Do you take on this fight that you think killed your friend and keep pushing on it? And I think, of course, Karen will never let go. So it’s really digging into the investigative journalist profession that I found myself in after last season, really leaning into that. Wilson Fisk is back, which is very exciting, we’ve got two new characters who are amazing. I think for me the most fun has been that we really start to open up Karen’s past and a lot of the mysteries, the hints that have been dropped and really filled those in.”
She also spoke on the flashes to Karen’s past that will be seen in the season, including what she and the stuntmen discussed as a “different” kind of violence seen in those flashbacks:
“I was talking with our assistant stunt director, who was up with us shooting some interesting stuff for Karen’s backstory and he said it’s really interesting because they do so much trained, exciting acrobatic fights on this, that they don’t do a lot of just basic domestic violence – really scary, realistic fighting. And he said it was really kind of interesting to go back and see how real and scary that can be. So if Karen lives in a violent world, it’s that world. It’s the world of, I can’t throw a punch and knock you out so that’s not my best solution to this. My best solution, and I talked to them a lot about, like, I believe Karen’s taken a self defense course, I believe that I could give you a bloody nose and run, get the f-ck out of there because that’s what being smart is, rather than Matt who knows how to stay in the fight and win and get his advantage.”
All of this does seem to hint that we are going to learn that Karen has killed in self-defense for domestic abuse in the past, but it may not be that simple. However, if ‘Daredevil’ does choose to go down that route, it will be interesting to see how they choose to portray such a sensitive topic on the show, especially with a character like Karen who is a fan-favorite. No matter what, it sounds like we will be getting answers, which worries me a little, because that does lend credence to the theory that Karen might be dying this season, as giving us everything we want to know about her seems like the thing to do before a tragic death. I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that she will survive Season 3 though, but I am curious to see what everyone else thinks.
Feel free to share your thoughts and theories below!
